Abstract
Mexico, as a nation-state, was born on paper over 200 years ago, yet the actual construction of the nation lasted more than a century. In the process, the country’s historiography did not account for the contribution of Afromexicans to the formation of an independent state. Although references to African descendants were sprinkled sporadically in press accounts, academic, and other works of art and political discourses, studies about the third root of the Mexican heritage did not appear until the early 1940s. But it was not until the late 1980s that the current trend in research, social activism, and government policies became a reality. This paper contends that nation-building and prevalent notions of racism/classism in the nineteenth century prolonged the recognition of Afrodescendants as part of the Mexicanness. Analysis of secondary sources on sociopolitical conditions is used to discuss nation-building. It allows for the formulation of hypotheses about the impact on the Afromexicans’ historiographical erasure; secondly, this framework is conducive to extrapolate from current nation-wide data the contemporary conditions of Afromexicans emanating from their elimination of the long nation-building process.
Presenters
Magdaleno ManzanárezVice President and Professor, External Affairs, Western New Mexico University, New Mexico, United States Ambar Varela
Investigadora Postdoctoral, Antropología, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana - Unidad Iztapalapa, Mexico Julieta Altamirano-Crosby
Co-Founder and Executive Director, Equity and Diversity, WAGRO Foundation, Washington, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Diversity, Afrodescendants, Mexican, Nation-Building, Public Policy
